Stargate Glyphs

Unknown

Geopolitical Structure and History

The physical geography of the planet, at least the area near the Stargate, is made up of mountains and forested regions. There are also likely several caves among the mountains, since Unas are cave dwelling creatures, and their extensive presence was not picked up by UAV scans of the region. Some areas have been cleared due to naquadah mining excavations. An odd physical characteristic of the planet is that it has unusual electromagnetic properties, rendering compasses useless and creating interference with radio signals. Though several mines were depleted of naquadah, at the time of SG-11 arrival on the planet, there was at least one location holding over 53,000 metric tons of naquadah.

Hundreds of years ago, the Goa’uld brought Unas slaves to P3X-403 to mine the naquadah found on the planet. The Unas were worked to death in the mines for years until rebelling against their Goa’uld oppressors. The area around this mine was considered sacred by the Unas. Skeletal remains of Jaffa hung on warning totems on the sacred ground of the Unas by the time of SG-11's arrival on the planet. Whether these remains were from the time of the revolt or not is unclear.

SG-11 came to the planet to conduct surveys for possible naquadah deposits. Most testing produced only minuscule results, but there was one area that still looked promising. Their mission was of such high priority, SG-11 did not follow other standard mission protocol of notifying Dr. Jackson before moving found archeological artifacts (old mining equipment), an issue Dr. Jackson later confronted Major Lorne with when he discovered the artifacts in a pile at the camp. While testing various sites, Lt. Ritter strayed too close to the Unas sacred grounds. He was dragged off and killed. His body was left on one of the warning totems, where it was later found by the search and rescue party.

SG-1, minus Major Carter, was called in to assist with the search and rescue effort for Lt. Ritter. After studying the artifacts, Daniel Jackson was very concerned about the evidence of Unas on the planet, a concern compounded by the belligerent attitude of SG-11's commanding officer, Col. Edwards. Nevertheless, Col. O’Neill deferred to Edwards command, and they joined the others in hunting for the Unas. A heated battle ensued between the SG teams and Iron Shirt’s clan, only halting after Daniel spoke to Iron Shirt in the Unas language. During the battle, several on both sides were killed or wounded. Col. O’Neill sustained a wound to his arm/shoulder area.

General Vidrine and General Hammond allowed Dr. Jackson to contact Chaka as intermediary in the hopes of coming to an agreement with the natives of the planet. However, Vidrine stressed the naquadah acquisition was of highest priority, and any measure, including the use of deadly force, was authorized. Teal’c, Daniel, Chaka, and SG-11 returned to the planet to discover their encampment had been destroyed by the Unas.

Chaka convinced Daniel that it would be best for the two of them to approach the native Unas alone and unarmed, so Daniel left his handgun with Teal’c and accompanied Chaka further into the sacred territory. The two eventually greeted Iron Shirt and his clan peacefully. Chaka, Daniel and Iron Shirt worked on negotiating a treaty between the humans and the Unas. However, these talks broke down when both sides started professing ultimatums. Further problems developed when, due to a misunderstanding, Lt. Woeste killed an Unas. The humans and Chaka retreated to the survey camp, where they ended up being surrounded and severely outnumbered by a large group of native Unas, led by Iron Shirt.

At a standoff, Iron Shirt approached the camp and parlayed with Daniel. Daniel then convinced Col. Edwards and his team to kneel to show respect for the Unas and to prevent a bloodbath the humans would likely lose. After accepting this acquiescence of Unas social structure and culture, Iron Shirt and Daniel rekindled negotiation talks and eventually came to an agreement. The humans would not desecrate the mines considered sacred ground by the Unas. The Unas in turn, would honor their ancestors by working the mines themselves and turn over all the naquadah.

Based upon the large amount of naquadah scanned by SG-11, it is very likely the Unas still mine the mineral for the humans.